


batman and robin have an altercation

by fivour



Category: Uta no Prince-sama
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Car Accidents, Character Death, Gen, Heavy Angst, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Inspired by Stephen King, Road Trips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-12
Updated: 2019-10-12
Packaged: 2020-11-26 03:21:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20923325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fivour/pseuds/fivour
Summary: It makes Reiji's heart ache. His mother is so sweet, so caring. No one is as kind as her. Why does she have to grow old?





	batman and robin have an altercation

**Author's Note:**

> i dont think reiji's sis or dad have names so i made them up

The gut wrenching sense of dread has been hanging over the Kotobuki household for a week. The oldest of the three is blissfully unaware — but Reiji and his sister Hinata know their mother's time is coming.

Once upon a time, in a world completely different from Reiji's, his mother had been a lively young woman. Pretty, dark brown hair and soft features, the same boyish figure Hinata had inherited. Now, approaching her eighties, everything about her had thinned out, the weight beginning to flee at the same time as the color of her hair had. She works less and less at the bento, because she's already scared them enough times getting faint on busier days.

Reiji didn't want to accept it. Who wants to admit their mother is dying? The heart attack a few years back had convinced him, his sister too if she had any doubt, that his mom wasn't in the best shape anymore. A miniscule piece of him still wishes that it wasn't true.

It came over the two on Tuesday. A sudden, unreasonable fear, as they watched the news with their mom. Reiji hasn't lived there in thirty years, but he still visits whenever he can. Hinata had looked up first, and then him, and they had a silent moment of understanding, the kind of understanding not even Ranmaru could compare to.

They already know his sister will take the business over. Reiji still has at least ten years to squeeze out of the acting business, and he'll be damned if he let Camus' snide remarks about him quitting soon be true. Even then, he's been out of the restaurant scene so long he wouldn't know how to run it. That Tuesday night, in his old room, he'd regretted every movie he'd worked for instead of being here.

On Saturday, he'd proposed an idea. Hinata agreed, and so did his mother, though she knew much less about the reasoning than Hinata did. "But what about your work?" was the only objection she gave him.

Throwing the bags in the back of the car, Reiji wants to cry. This may —_ will —_ be their last road trip together, and Hinata isn't coming, and what happens if, God forbid, she passes away while they're out? She has another heart attack while they're on the freeway? He feels his stomach lurch at the thought, and almost drops the bag.

No. He can't think of why they're doing this. He can only think of what's happening now, because his mom is going to enjoy this trip no matter what he has to do.

She's waiting as he gets in the driver's seat, and they both wave to Hinata as they leave.

"I can't believe they really gave you a week off, Ken," she smiles, putting her hand over Reiji's on the console.

He forces a smile out, nodding. "Me neither."

More and more often, she's mistaken him for his father, and every time, it wrings his heart. He's happy she only remembers Kenzou as a good guy, but he can't. She doesn't talk for a while after that, only looking at the window at the trees they pass.

The first stop, Hikawa Shrine, would likely bring even more of these mistakes. Reiji's parents took him there as a child, on their first road trip, one of the few before Kenzou left. Hinata refused to go because she hated their dad. As a teen, Reiji avoided it. It made him angry. As a man in his 40s, it was bittersweet to be visiting it again.

_She'd want to see it_, Reiji had reasoned, when he and Hinata had been picking spots. _She doesn't remember him like we do_.

Reiji glances over every so often, and she still stares out the window, content. His mother always did enjoy joining him for drives when he was younger. Now he never has the time.

His smile falters.

How could he never have time for his mom?

He tries to turn back before she can see him frowning, but he doesn't succeed. "Is something wrong?" She asks.

_Yes_. "Nah, just thinkin'."

"Don't lie to me," she chides, and waits patiently for him to spill.

Reiji's quiet, but he can feel her eyes on her and he feels horrible not being honest with her. "Alright, alright," he glances over at her, feeling even guiltier. "I just wish we spent more time together these past years. Y'know?"

"We spent plenty of time together," she smiles and sits back, apparently pleased with that answer. "I still have the photos from when we went to the tower in Tokyo last year."

"That was a few years ago, Mom," Reiji corrects. "I think it was five."

"Oh, whatever. I knew it was recent."

Reiji takes a deep breath. _Don't focus on why you're doing this trip. Just do it_.

"If I can get some more time off in a few months, you got anywhere you'd wanna go?" He asks.

She shakes her head. "Anywhere's fine as long as I'm with my kids."

Reiji smiles, but it makes his heart ache. His mother is so sweet, and so caring, and loves them so much. No one is as kind as her. Why does she have to grow old? Why can't she live forever, just like he always thought should we would when he was six?

"I wish Hinata could've come," Reiji admits. "I'm sure RanRan would've run the bento."

"There's always next time," she promises, returning her gaze to the cars passing them. "I'm sure he's focused on that movie anyways."

The movie his friend had been doing was cancelled, but Reiji doesn't bother to correct her this time. "Yeah, you're right."

"Where are going after the Shrine?"

"Don't know yet. I was gonna let you pick," Reiji reminds her, for the millionth time since he'd told her the plan.

"Oh," is all she says, going quiet.

Reiji feels lost, moreso than she does. When he was 25 he never thought he'd be here, taking his mom on her last trip, scared to death that she'd have a second heart attack and wouldn't make it back home. He can't stand to lose her, the only person in his life who was always there.

"Hey, Mom?"

"Yes, Reiji?"

He smiles. "I really love you."

She smiles back. "I love you too, honey."

He's barely turned away before Reiji feels his head connect with the steering wheel. Pain shoots up his nose and spreads across his forehead. He coughs, wincing at the pain in his face, his twitch making it even worse. Once he remembers he isn't alone, Reiji pushes himself up, his wrist feeling sore from hitting the dashboard.

No. No, no, no. Her head must've hit the dash, and she's clutching her chest and this isn't good, it isn't good at all. Reiji shakes her, but she doesn't respond, wheezing and shivering. He fumbles for his phone, but his fingers are too shaky to dial 119, and it has to be the first time his mother has ever heard him swear. By the fifth time, he gets it, though as he tries to speak, he realizes he's crying so hard his throat feels like it's closing up.

There's a moment, whether it's longer than a moment or not, in which he doesn't know what he's doing. Reiji blanks, and when he finally snaps back into reality, he's dropped the phone and rolled the window down for the woman that rear-ended them and ran to his door.

"I'm so sorry," she's panicking, but she isn't hurt at all, and Reiji can't recall ever thinking of a lady as a _bitch_ before now.

"Call 119!" Is all he can manage, his heart thuds in his ears, and he turns back to his mom. "_Fucking call them!_"

It hurts, it hurts to cry, it hurts to see his mom hunched over. He grabs her shoulder, shaking her again, and her hand falls from her chest, because it's too weak to stay there. Reiji freezes, and deep in his stomach, he knows it's too late. An ambulance can't help now.

Reiji barely makes out the sound of the woman hurriedly telling the dispatcher what happened. All he can hear is his mother telling him she loves him, just seconds before that _bitch_ slammed into them. He feels lightheaded, and he drops in and out of reality, autopilot switching on and off until he finally stops shaking her, because he knows that won't help either.

Reiji pushes her back, gently, and what he fears most is true.

**Author's Note:**

> ive been reading the bazaar of bad dreams and i really liked batman & robin have an altercation (the whole collection is pretty good actually)
> 
> this is obviously pretty different but i thought of it and how i could make it make sense for reiji and we have our next little sad story in this series for october. i vaguely remembering editing it but if not i'll fix the mistakes at some point in human history i guess
> 
> i've been lucky so i based this off some quick googling. sorry if it isn't realistic. then again, what do i write that is? im looking at u extraspection


End file.
